Here is an interesting post from a thread that was created to respond to the article published in NewGeography.com. It's an example of the kind of posts that the CostofLivingProject is trying to encourage.

#46
09-02-2009, 03:44 PM
SLO
Still Ill Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Fort Worth
Posts: 2,245

In my industry. I design high end homes & build. Out of college I was purely design moved up quickly, worked for architects and high end custom home builders. Six years ago I went out on my own designing and building homes.
What I see thats happened in California, is that the small scale builders (except for the very high end), are forced out and can not compete on any type of competitive level. One of the architecture classes I had in college was titled Small Scale Master Builder - basically referring to the historic combination of the master architect/builder that has existed throughout history (except for today). I decided then that I wanted to do both, and I see construction as an extension of design.
I could certainly do in California what I do here, but as I stated, a lot of the market there is corporate. Its corporate for the reason that its so expensive, laborious and exhausting to build there. Especially coastal, there are so many hurdles to jump and the cost of doing business and buying property so high, that you have to have very deep pockets to do so, especially now that credit is so tight. From environmental impact studies, coastal commission review, high city impact & building fees, to water rationing, laborious licensing for all trades, high workers comp, high cost of property. All of those things I just listed are very minor or dont exist in Texas.